What Was Given, Remains
At the second level of Angkor Wat, where the towers rise above the inner sanctuary, some carvings were never finished. The sandstone wall is bare—smooth where ornament should have bloomed. But from this silence, two devatas emerged.
They are nearly identical. Each lifts a lotus blossom. One reaches across to rest her hand upon the other’s shoulder. It is a gesture without beginning or end. They do not turn. They do not shine. They remain.
Held by the Light They Offered was made as the sun began to withdraw—its final warmth brushed across the stone like benediction. Using large-format black-and-white film, I composed the image not as a document, but as an act of devotion. In the studio, I shaped the sculptural relief through chiaroscuro, and hand-toned each print in gold—not for ornament, but for return.
These devatas were not simply lit.
They were lit from within.
No two impressions are the same. Each carries its own breath, its own hush. The gold remembers what the light gave.
This museum-grade archival pigment print is rendered on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper and offered in a strictly limited edition of 25 + 2 Artist’s Proofs. Each is signed and numbered by the artist.
They do not reflect the sun.
They remember it.
The Collector’s Package includes a Certificate of Authenticity, a printed facsimile of the original field-made Chalk Study, and a suite of poetic companion texts.
To live with this work is not to possess an image.
It is to enter a moment that never stopped offering itself.
Also in Library
Before the Shutter Falls
Before the shutter falls, fear sharpens and doubt measures the cost of waiting. In the quiet hours before dawn, the act of not-yet-beginning becomes a discipline of attention. This essay reflects on patience, restraint, and the quiet mercy that arrives when outcome loosens its hold.
Those Who Keep the Way Open — On the Quiet Guardians of Angkor’s Thresholds
Quiet gestures shape the way into Angkor — a swept stone, a refilled bowl, a hand steadying a guardian lion. This essay reflects on the unseen custodians whose daily care keeps the thresholds open, revealing how sacredness endures not through stone alone, but through those who tend its meaning.
Multiplicity and Mercy — The Face Towers of Jayavarman VII
A new vision of kingship rises at the Bayon: serene faces turned to every horizon, shaping a world where authority is expressed as care. Moving through the terraces, one enters a field of steady, compassionate presence — a landscape where stone, light, and time teach through quiet attention.
$250
Angkor Wat Temple, Angkor, Cambodia — 2020
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print
Edition
Strictly limited to 25 prints + 2 Artist’s Proofs
Medium
Hand-toned black-and-white archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo — a museum-grade fine art paper chosen for its quiet tactility and reverent depth, echoing the spirit of the temples.
Signature & Numbering
Each print is individually signed and numbered by the artist on the border (recto)
Certificate of Authenticity
Accompanies every print
Image Size
9.5 x 6.8 inches (24.1 x 17.3 cm)
At the threshold where light becomes memory, two devatas emerge from stone—graceful, entwined, and radiant in their stillness. This is not a moment captured, but one consecrated.
Carved high upon the unfinished sandstone of Angkor Wat’s second-level courtyard, the figures appear almost identical—twin sisters or mirrored selves—each lifting a lotus blossom in quiet offering. One reaches across to rest her hand upon the other’s shoulder, their embrace suspended in golden silence. The air was thick with the hush of evening, as if the day itself were bowing.
Lucas Varro waited for the light to find them. Using large-format black-and-white film, he made this image beneath the sun’s last breath. In the studio, the negative was shaped through chiaroscuro and hand-toned in gold—an act of reverence, not effect. Each print is unique, bearing the subtle fire of what the stone once held.
This museum-grade archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper is offered in a strictly Limited Edition of 25 + 2 AP.
No two impressions are alike. Each carries the light that stayed.
Click here to walk deeper into the artist’s journal—where silence remembers the offering.
